Description
Johnston’s crocodile is a relatively small crocodile
and some males reach a maximum length of only ten feet (3
m). It has a light brown body with darker bands on its body
and tail and lighter brown bands on its snout. It has a distinctly
narrow snout with about 68 to 72 teeth total. The
body is covered with scales that are generally large and
provide wide armor on their back.

Distribution and Habitat
This species of crocodile inhabits the Northern Territory
of Australia and Queensland and also northern and western
Australia.

It occupies various fresh water areas such
as lagoons, rivers, billabongs, and swamps.

Diet in the Wild
The shape of the snout, like that of the gharial, suggests
a primary adaptation to a piscivorous (fish-based) diet.
This creature also eats insects, small invertebrates,
amphibians, mammals, and birds. Large individuals may
consume terrestrial prey. This crocodile favors a sit-and-wait
hunting strategy, snatching prey up with a lightning-fast
sideways movement of the head. It rarely feeds during
the dry season because of a lack of available prey and
a reduction in available habitat due to drying of pools
and rivers.

Zoo Diet
They are fed mice, rats, and fish.

Reproduction
The males reach sexual maturity around five feet (1.5 m)
and the females when only slightly smaller. The females
nest in holes that are exposed on sandbanks during the
dry season from August through September. Mating occurs
three to six weeks before laying.

Clutches average in size between 13 and 20 eggs
and hatch in about 65 to 95 days. Egg laying usually occurs
at night. Eggs are lost to predation by monitor lizards and
feral pigs. Temperatures between 86 and 91° F (30 to 33°
C) are desirable. Temperature of 89° F (32° C) produces
male embryos, whereas those a couple of degrees cooler or
warmer produce females.

The nests are left unguarded, but the mothers
reappear in late October at the end of the incubation period.
The mothers then carry the newly hatched young to the water
in their mouths. The mothers stay close to the young and
protect them for a short period of time. In addition to
being hole nesters, they are also sometimes called "pulse
nesters" because all females in a given population nest within a brief
three-week period each season.

Only one percent of these hatchlings will survive
to reach maturity, and in some years predation pressures
are so high that it is unlikely that any new animals are
recruited into the adult population. In some years, early
rains at the end of the dry season may destroy almost all
the nests through flooding. Juveniles that survive to maturity
have been found returning to the same breeding and nesting
areas.

Life Span
Unknown.

Status
Long-term aboriginal hunting did not significantly affect
the population. Advances made in tanning processes at
the end of the 1950s allowed the skins of this species,
instead of those of the saltwater crocodile, to be used
as leather. As a result, hunting increased.
This hunting did cause a decrease in population size but
protective measures were taken in the early 1960s.

In western Australia they were protected by
law in 1962, and in 1964 in the Northern Territory. Queensland
did not pass its protective laws until 1974. Illegal hunting
continues but the main threat is the destruction of habitat.
Small-scale ranching and farming of these crocodiles exists.

Population estimates vary, as the species can
be difficult to survey effectively, but it is not unreasonable
to assume that there are at least 100,000 individuals in the
wild.

Fun Facts
In Australia these crocodiles are also called the Australian
freshwater crocodile or “Freshie.”